Chapter 91: Spiritual Object! 3 Mulberry Trees
Chapter 91: Chapter 91: Spiritual Object! 3 Mulberry Trees
The land was bountiful and vast.
The Plague God Sparrow and the Red River Dragon Python had cleared out most of the Demons, Ghosts, Spirits, and Monsters, allowing Zhu Ge to travel unimpeded.
He was headed for the very place Liu Jianjian had mentioned, the one with the Spirit Wood.
Spirit-level mulberry trees!
’The Spirit Fruit the Raincoat Fisherman gave me before was great for my body and even boosted my cultivation. I wonder what these Spirit-level Mulberries are like.’
Zhu Ge felt a flicker of anticipation.
The Raincoat Fisherman’s fishhook and basket, the fruit Zhu Ge had eaten—they were all Spirit-level items.
Zhu Ge had broken through to the Mid-Anger Realm thanks to that fruit. If he could get his hands on one or two Spirit Trees, or even the Spirit-level Red Rice he’d heard of, he would have more than enough to sustain himself.
’I should be close.’
Zhu Ge, who had been racing through the forest, came to a halt. He leaped onto a large tree and scanned his surroundings.
"Brother, Liu Jianjian said it was near here," Hua Liusha’s voice echoed in Zhu Ge’s mind. "I’ve been tracking your route and position. We can’t be far."
Hua Liusha acted as a convenient link, like a telephone line connecting Zhu Ge to Liu Jianjian.
’Alright, I’ll take a look.’ Zhu Ge began to search the area.
’Mulberry trees,’ Zhu Ge recalled, ’were supposed to be low-lying shrubs.’
’But wild ones could be different.’
’It’s spring now. If I take them back and plant them, they should bear fruit after a while.’
The thought put Zhu Ge in a good mood.
"Hm?"
Suddenly, an aura flickered past.
"Liusha!" Zhu Ge’s eyebrows twitched. A roiling red mist instantly billowed out from within him.
It was Hua Liusha’s Yin Qi!
Hua Liusha was a Second Realm Xi Ghost, a realm known as "Essence Plunder."
Her Yin Qi was the source of her power, much like Zhu Ge’s Blood Qi.
Wherever the Yin Qi passed, leaves and grass alike became coated in a layer of white frost.
In mere moments, the red mist enveloped everything within a hundred-meter radius.
’Hm? A silkworm, just as I thought.’ Zhu Ge spotted a squirming insect trapped in the red mist.
The insect was a vibrant green. In terms of its aura, it hadn’t yet broken through to the Spirit Realm to become a Demon Beast, but judging by the Spiritual Qi it contained, it wasn’t far off.
This was a wild silkworm!
Zhu Ge stepped forward and grabbed the Green Silkworm. His fingers were like iron pincers, holding it completely still.
Feeling it struggle in his grasp, Zhu Ge smiled. "You must be close to gaining Spiritual Wisdom. Submit to me, and I’ll spare your life."
The Green Silkworm’s struggles weakened. It lifted its head to look at Zhu Ge and slowly nodded.
Zhu Ge immediately loosened his grip.
The next second, the Green Silkworm shot into the air like a coiled spring. Mid-flight, it spat a strand of silk into the distance, attempting to swing away like Spider-Man.
However, Hua Liusha had not withdrawn her Yin Qi. When the Green Silkworm hit the red mist, it was like smacking into an iron plate and was flung back.
With a smile, Zhu Ge snatched the Green Silkworm from the air. His Blood Qi flared, and he tightened his grip as if to crush it.
The Green Silkworm writhed frantically but was no match for Zhu Ge’s strength.
If Zhu Ge were to apply just a little more force, he could easily crush the Green Silkworm to a pulp.
"Fine, I’ll give you one more chance," Zhu Ge said nonchalantly. "If you won’t submit, then you can die."
With that, he opened his palm.
The Green Silkworm lay limply in the center of Zhu Ge’s palm, on the verge of death. At his words, it once again lifted its head and nodded.
Zhu Ge smiled. "Now, lower your soul’s defenses. I’m going to place a restriction on it. If you betray me, your soul will instantly detonate."
As he spoke, Hua Liusha immediately complied, sending a wisp of her Yin Qi into the Green Silkworm’s body.
There was no restriction; it was just one of Hua Liusha’s techniques.
Zhu Ge didn’t actually have a method for controlling Spirit Beasts, but he could at least make the Green Silkworm fear him.
At this, the Green Silkworm’s body trembled, and then it went limp as if resigning itself to its fate.
"Don’t worry, I won’t treat you unfairly," Zhu Ge said with a smile. "You were born in a mulberry grove, weren’t you? Where is it? Take me there."
Hearing Zhu Ge’s command, the Green Silkworm immediately twisted its body, tilted its head back, and spat a glittering thread of silk at a nearby leaf.
PFFT!
The silk attached to the leaf, and the Green Silkworm used the momentum to swing off in a specific direction.
WHOOSH—
In an instant, Hua Liusha withdrew the surrounding red mist into Zhu Ge’s body. He then followed the Green Silkworm.
They hadn’t gone ten meters before the Green Silkworm swung into a hollow at the base of an ordinary-looking tree.
’Oh? A hollow in the tree?’
Zhu Ge was surprised.
The hollow wasn’t very large. He figured he wouldn’t be able to squeeze inside.
So, he had Hua Liusha send a probe of her Yin Qi inside.
A moment later, Hua Liusha’s voice echoed in Zhu Ge’s mind:
"Brother, it’s about the size of a room in here. It’s a stone hollow, and there are three mulberry trees."
"Good." Zhu Ge nodded. He stepped forward, wrapped his arms around the tree, and braced himself, putting all his strength into it.
"Heave!"
With a sharp cry, Zhu Ge tore the large tree from the ground, roots and all. He tossed it aside, revealing the space hidden beneath.
The space had probably been formed by pooling water long ago. After the water dried up, some animal must have taken shelter inside, bringing seeds with it.
However, the light inside was too dim, so only three of the mulberry trees had survived.
’But why did they become Spirit Trees?’
Zhu Ge leaped down and examined the three mulberry trees. It was then that he noticed something unusual.
Tangled in the roots of the three mulberry trees were faint traces of cloth, and he could see a few bone fragments scattered in the soil.
The mulberry trees radiated Spiritual Qi. Just by getting close, Zhu Ge could feel his Blood Qi circulating faster.
’Could it be that a person, not an animal, was the reason these three mulberry trees grew here?’
Zhu Ge had a suspicion.
’Maybe it wasn’t an animal that brought the mulberry seeds here, but a person.’
’Someone hid here, died, and their body became fertilizer for the mulberry trees.’
’It’s even possible these trees grew from a high-grade Spirit Seed, which then degenerated into their current low-grade, Spirit-level state.’
’Still, this is more than enough.’
Zhu Ge set about digging up the trees.
He used his martial techniques and Blood Qi to speed up the process, and in less than ten minutes, all three mulberry trees—none of them even as tall as he was—were unearthed.
There were four or five other green, wild silkworms on the trees, but they were all ordinary creatures.
Zhu Ge figured the Green Silkworm he’d just subdued was the only Spiritual Silkworm among them.
’But that didn’t matter.’
One Spiritual Silkworm was enough. Hua Liusha had read the *Gusu Silk Chronicles* and knew that it didn’t take much spiritual silk to weave Soul Clothing.
"Time to head back!"
Zhu Ge shouldered the three mulberry trees and immediately started for home.
When he got home, Liu Jianjian was still out collecting fruit, so Zhu Ge went ahead and planted the three mulberry trees himself in the center of the valley.
The spot got plenty of sunlight and was near a pond, making it ideal for the plants to grow.
When he trained here, the trees would influence his body, accelerating the circulation of his Blood Qi.
To Zhu Ge’s displeasure, however, Liu Jianjian didn’t return until the next morning.
Her "fruit gathering" had apparently turned into a gossip session.
"Master, Master, I’ve got news!"
"A Snake Demon to the northwest told me that the Yuan Yang City Lord is badly injured!"